Nowadays, the Genus Dendrobium is considered to be one of the most precious Chinese herbs for treating ophthalmic defects. The Genus Dendrobium is a member of the Family Orchidaceae. The stem of the Dendrobium plant is the mainly medicinal part. Some Chinese medical codices disclose that the Dendrobium plant is the curative for some illnesses such as salivary defects, stomach defects, and ophthalmic defects.
It has been proved in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/648,651 that an extract of “DCMPbL6, 7D2H2” from the Dendrobii Caulis plant has the curative effects for the ophthalmic defects. However, since the Dendrobii Caulis usually has a slow growth property and its relevant resistance to the environment is poor, a plant having a fast growth nature and an abundant content of the extract of “DCMPbL6, 7D2H2” is desirous. After a long-term research, it's found that Dendrobium huoshanese C.Z. Tang et S.J. Cheng has the extract of “DCMPbL6, 7D2H2” but a slow growth rate, and Dendrobium tosaense Makino does not have the extract of “DCMPbL6, 7D2H2” but have a fast growth ability. In general, Dendrobium huoshanese C.Z. Tang et S.J. Cheng spreads on the border between Huoshan County, Anhui Province and Henan Province, China, and Dendrobium tosaense Makino spreads in Taiwan, Japan, and Guangxi Province, Yunnan Province and Guizhou Province, China.
After crossing Dendrobium huoshanese C.Z. Tang et S.J. Cheng (being the patrilineage) with Dendrobium tosaense Makino (being the matrilineage) via the normal crossing procedure, however, we discovered a new and distinctive Dendrobium plant (Dendrobium tosaense Makino×Dendrobium huoshanese C.Z. Tang et S.J. Cheng) with great growth vigor and high extract amount of “DCMPbL6, 7D2H2” in the cultivated field, and then we named it as ‘YFY-HS1’.
The act of asexual reproduction of ‘YFY-HS1’ by normal tissue culture was performed by us in a controlled environment in I-Lan, Taiwan. The characteristics disclosed herein for ‘YFY-HS1’ were firm and were retained through the successive generations of asexual reproduction.
‘YFY-HS1’ is particularly characterized by its great growth vigor and the high extract amount of “DCMPbL6, 7D2H2” therefrom, so that ‘YFY-HS1’ has the apparent commercial value.
At present, ‘YFY-HS1’ is reproduced by the tissue culture, and cultivated in the greenhouses in Taiwan and Shanghai. ‘YFY-HS1’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. It should be noted that the phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity, fertilization, daylight etc. without any change in the genotype. The following observations and measurements describe the plant grown in I-Lan, Taiwan, under conditions, which approximate those generally used in commercial practice.